The Housemaid

Episode 23

The white woman stared at me surprised when she came out and found me standing at her gate and crying.

I had knocked three consecutive times and it was after the 3rd knock that she came out.
There was surprise and worry written all over her face and she stared at me for a while before advancing closer.
“Please I need your help ma,” I begged as she drew nearer.

The tears falling from my eyes and the fact that I was crying must have induced compassion in her and she came close and asked me what the problem was.
I told her that my madam maltreated me and nearly killed me and I ran out of the house.
She asked me who my madam was and I told her and she instantly remembered the last encounter and sighed.

She told me that there wasn’t much she could do and that she had come to realise that the country was too corrupt and even if she arrested my madam like she did the other time, someone would still grant her bail and the problem would not be addressed.
I noticed without being told that she wasn’t willing to let me into her house because all the while I was standing outside the gate.
She advised me to go back to the house and apologise to my madam and be careful not to find her trouble again.

With that she left me at the gate and went inside.

I was devastated and confused on what to do. Going back to the house meant doom for me.
I didn’t have any other place to go either.
I stood at the gate thinking of what to do. I’ve never been more confused in my life.
So I decided to remain at the gate even if it meant sleeping outside.

But then I thought of the insecurity in the neighbourhood. All these rough boys living around would be more happy to accost me later in the night and rape me mercilessly.
The more I thought of these, the more confused I became.

The day was too long to go. The time was around 10 o’clock in the morning and I didn’t know how to keep busy and for how long.

So I decided to go back to the house.
I swung our gate open and went inside. I was very afraid and expected the worst.
I climbed the steps infront of the door fearfully and tiptoed towards the door and pushed it gently to discover that it was firmly locked.

With the last drop of courage in me I knocked on the door and got no response.
I knocked again and again yet no response.
By the fourth knock the door gently opened and madam stood aside for me to enter.
“Please I’m sorry ma,” I apologised at the door kneeling down.

“Won’t you come inside first?” Madam asked abruptly and I quickly obeyed.
As soon as I went in, madam locked the door firmly behind me and I looked and saw the long piece of wire dangling from her left hand.
Then she turned towards me.
It was the whistling sound of the wire that I heard and before I could say “Jack” it had circled my neck.

Madam knew no mercy.
She flogged and flogged and flogged me with the wire that I almost felt I was dying.
I screamed and screamed yet there was no relief. Infact madam was determined to kill me that morning.

The whistling sound of the wire continued lash after lash producing as much pain as the welder desired as the wire whizzed through the air and landed on me.
Each lash left a peculiar scar on my skin as the flogging continued.
At a point the pain became so unbearable and I passed out…